To the Valley of the Somme

You couldn't guess what woke me up this morning at around 6:30. It was the gentle rising of a graceful hot air balloon. What woke me was the sound of the burner. It sounded quite close so I had to jump out of bed to have a look. It was very close, about as large as my fist at arms length.

Today we travel further north towards Calais. I wanted to avoid Paris and stop off in the Somme but it seemed a bit of a drive. The sat-nav took us through the west side of Paris. It looked good on a map, motorways and dual-carriage ways but Paris is a massive nightmare to drive through. My advise is to avoid it even if it adds 30 miles to your journey. I thought London was bad. Paris is like driving in India but with more motorbikes and scooters and less elephants. Zoe drove the Paris section (again) and she kept really calm even when the sat-nav was too slow, sending us in the wrong direction and almost causing two accidents.

We made it to the Valley of the Somme in one piece. We had our evening meal outside; sun, heat, wine and salmon, where we were paid a visit by a wasp. Now this wasp was the biggest f***ing thing I've ever seen and it freaked me out. It must have been the length and width of my middle finger from the tip to the second knuckle (4cm?). It made the low buzzing sound like distant thunder and had the yellow and black markings like a zebra crossing and as it hovered there, over my wine glass, I could see the pilot! That last bit I made up.